Happy Birthday!
by Liett-kun
Summary: it's Naruto's birthday. he thinks he is going to be alone again. but Jiraiya is not going to sit down and wait til the day is over! please R&R !


Naruto was home. Finally.

The villagers had chased him all the way home. They had tried to beat him. To kill him.

Luckily they weren't able to catch him. But what if they had caught him…

Naruto shuddered at the thought.

He looked at his arm. One of the people who tried to hurt him, had hitted him with a kunai. A small cut. Nothing more. Just a small cut…

Naruto was almost crying now.

It was just a small cut.

The villagers didn't hate him… they didn't…. they d…

Naruto cried.

Damn it! It was his birthday! Everything should be perfect on this day!

He had planned to make a birthday cake and he wanted to invite Iruka-sensei, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-teme, Ero-sennin…. He wanted to be happy, with all his friends!

He wanted…

It didn't matter anyway. Nobody would remember his birthday. The birthday of the demon-child.

He slouched on the ground, hugging himself, not able to hold in his tears and sadness.

"Hey, Hey. Kiddo. Don't kill yourself. Why are you crying? It's your birthday after all!"

Naruto looked up, his eyes were still tearing. In the window sat Jiraiya. The Toad-sage smiled at him.

"Don't cry, I even brought a present for you!"

Naruto stared. Jiraiya knew his birthday? Jiraiya was here? Jiraiya was here to give him a present?

"Naruto, quit staring at me."

Naruto blinked a few times. Then he smiled and started laughing.

Jiraiya!

Jiraiya was here for him!

"Oi! Ero-sennin! I'm so glad you are here!"

Jiraiya smiled. "Why would I forget the birthday of my favorite student? And besides, I'm not the only one who came…"

Naruto blinked again. Jiraiya wasn't the only one who came?

"The Baka just told you to stop staring at him. Geez, Jiraiya, I thought he would listen to you."

Naruto turned and saw Tsunade and Shizune sitting on his chairs.

Shizune waved to him.

"YEAH! YOUR YOUTH IS LIKE A CANDLE IN THE NIGHT! IT BURNS LIKE A FIRE IN THE-"

"Lee! Quit yelling!"

"Idiot."

"BUT LEE IS RIGHT, MY DEAR TENTEN AND NEJI! NARUTO IS FILLED WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH! LEE, YOU ARE FANTASTIC, YOU SAW NARUTO'S POWER AND…"

But before Gai could finish, Naruto put them all in a big groups hug. Gai smiled. A real smile. Tenten smiled too, but tried to escape. Lee hugged back and Neji… well, Neji looked very uncomfortable, but then he almost… smiled. Then the Hyuuga turned blue and almost suffocated.

Naruto released them. Neji started coughing and Tenten patted him on his back, trying to get the Hyuuga breathing again.

Gai did his famous good guy-pose.

Lee was still holding Naruto. Naruto wriggled himself out of Lee's grasp and ran to Tsunade.

"BAA-CHAN!" yelled the blond boy and he jumped on her.

Tsunade laughed and said, "Happy Birthday, Naruto!" then she gave him a small kiss on his forehead.

Naruto smiled and launched himself at Shizune, who ducked.

Naruto jumped right in Iruka.

"Well, you seem happy. Have a nice birthday Naruto!" smiled Iruka.

Naruto got tears in his eyes.

Iruka-sensei!

"I thought Jiraiya-sama just told you to stop crying. You really don't listen to him, do you?" asked Iruka, while he patted Naruto's head and adjusted his forehead-protector.

Naruto grinned. "The first tears were tears of sadness, but now they're of joy!"

Naruto felt eyes staring at him. He looked around and saw Shikamaru, Choji (eating cake), Ino and Asuma-sensei sitting on the couch. Naruto waved and laughed.

They waved back.

"Happy Birthday Naruto!"

Then Naruto saw somebody he'd really hoped to see…

"Oi, Sakura-chan!"

"Hello Naruto. Happy birthday." Said the pink haired girl, and she forced herself to smile.

Sakura forced herself to smile, again. What she was about to do was really embarrassing, but she promised Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama she would do this. Luckily Sasuke-kun wasn't here yet.

She leaned to the blond boy. Naruto didn't know what was happening. Sakura kissed Naruto on his forehead, much like Tsunade had done.

Naruto felt like screaming. Sakura-chan, his long time crush, had just kissed him!

He started dancing in circles, while Sakura walked to the sink and washed her mouth (Naruto didn't see it). He was overjoyed.

Almost everybody was here!

For him!

Naruto heard his door open and hugged the first person who came in.

It was Hinata.

She blushed, but didn't faint yet. She started stuttering "H…Hello N… Naruto-kun.. Happy Birthday to y..you." and slowly she hugged him back.

Naruto was surprised, but Hinata even more. "N…Naruto-kun…"

Quickly she backed away. "I.. I'm s…sorry, I s.. shouldn't hug you…" and she fainted.

Naruto caught her before she hit the ground. "Hinata?"

Kiba started talking to the two (the one he was speaking to couldn't hear him, but he didn't care) "Hey, Hinata! Why do you faint? ... Hinata?"

Shino came in. "It seems you have to wait for her present, Naruto-kun."

Naruto tried to smile to the bug-boy, but failed miserably. Naruto was just too creeped out by Shino.

Kurenai-sensei walked in, and smiled when she saw the fainted Hinata in Naruto's arms. She patted Naruto on his back and walked over to Asuma, who winked at her.

Shikamaru looked away, "Why is it that Asuma-sensei is always acting weird around Kurenai-sensei? It's so troublesome."

Naruto dragged Hinata to her cousin Neji and slowly put her in his arms. Neji didn't know what to do, "Hinata-sama! What's wrong? What…. Why are you fainted? Hinata-sama, say something!"

"Neji! She fainted, she can't answer you! Did your brain get enough oxygen or did it really die when you almost suffocated?" said Tenten, getting enough of Neji's (rare) hysterical attitude.

Neji became himself again and shoved Hinata in Kiba's arms, saying "If you drop her, or do something else that's wrong for her, I will kill you."

Kiba became pale and nodded. He held Hinata in his arms, and looked at Naruto.

"This is really uncomfortable; don't you think so, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked.

Naruto looked at Kiba, then at the unconscious Hinata and then at the door of his sleeping room.

"You can lay her down in my bed." The blonde said.

After Hinata laid safely in Naruto's bed, and Naruto and Kiba were in the living room again, the door burst open again and somebody stormed in.

That somebody was nobody else than Anko, the most bloodthirsty, and creepiest, ninja of Konoha. In her hands, she had a very, very big birthday cake.

Choji's eyes started twinkling. Ino hitted him on his head, and said something about 'not eating Naruto's birthday cake all by yourself.'

Naruto was the villagers almost forgotten and was jumping up and down from happiness. While he was chatting Sakura's ears off, Shizune healed the cut on his arm. After Shizune healed the cut, he tried to kiss Sakura but she hitted him on his head.

Anko was standing on the table; she had a butchers knife in her hands and started yelling.

"ALRIGHT, MAGGOTS! WHO'S IN FOR CAKE?"

Choji jumped up.

"WAIT!" shouted Gai, striking his good guy-pose again "NOT EVERYBODY IS HERE YET! AND BEFORE CAKE… PRESENTS!"

"YES GAI-SENSEI IS RIGHT! PRESENTS ARE THE PILLARS OF BIRTHDAYS! THEY ARE FILLED WITH YOUH AND LOVE FOR NARUTO!" `Shouted Lee.

Tenten and Ino hitted Lee the Mini-Gai on his head. Shikamaru sighted, Shino adjusted his sunglasses and Neji scowled. Kiba looked terrified at Gai-sensei, who was coming a bit too close to him.

Hinata walked through the door of Naruto's bedroom, blushing and fidgeting like she always did. She sat down next to Sakura and sneaked glances at Naruto when she thought nobody was looking. Of course, Sakura saw it and smiled a bit to her. She said to Hinata it wasn't wrong to be that shy, but her inner-Sakura was freaking out and yelling to the Hyuuga-girl to tell the blonde already.

Iruka was the one who wanted to give Naruto the first present.

"You know, I'm so proud of you, Naruto. You've grown a lot since your Academy days. But don't forget your Iruka-sensei, okay?"

"No! Why should I forget you? You are the best!" and Naruto grabbed Iruka's arm.

"But, but! What's the present you bought for me? What's it? What's it?" said the hyperactive boy, trying to take the present.

Iruka smiled and handed Naruto something thin like paper. The first thing that Naruto did was smile, and then he ripped the wrapping paper off. In his hands he held a coupon for Ichiraku Ramen. If he gave the coupon to Teuchi, the Ramen-cook, he was allowed to eat free Ramen for a whole day!

Naruto was overjoyed and sang "Ramen! Ramen! Thank you so very much Iruka-sensei!"

Next was Asuma-sensei's team. Shikamaru handed him a Shogi-game. The game lay inside a colorful box; on the box were orange flowers, matching Naruto's jacket and pants. The whole team smiled at him. Before Choji went back to the couch, he propped a small bag of crisps in Naruto's hands and whispered, "Ssssh! If Ino sees what I'm giving you, I'm gonna die, so don't show it."

Naruto laughed.

You probably already know what Gai and Lee gave him: a Spandex-suit.

Neji and Tenten gave him a scroll. "For training." they said, "Don't use it for your crappy art, please!"

Then it was Kurenai-sensei's team turn. Kiba gave Naruto a hat that looked like a dog.

Naruto shouted from happiness. Then he noticed small, very small, spots on the hat. Shino came over "Look, Naruto-kun, I put some bugs on it…"

Naruto creeped out, again. Sulking Shino walked to a corner and it looked like he was crying.

If Shino could cry, of course…

Hinata handed him a soft feeling present. Naruto opened it and saw a scarf. It was yellow and had the Konoha-sign in red sewed in it. Naruto looked at Hinata, who was fidgeting.

"Thank you, Hinata, it looks really nice. Did you make it yourself?"

"Y…yes, I.. I did, N… Naruto-kun…" she looked away, and softly she kissed him on his cheek. "H… Happy Birthday…" she murmured, before fainting.

Naruto was stunned. Kurenai walked to Hinata, and laid her on Naruto's bed again.

Shizune and Tsunade gave Naruto a medic-kit.

Jiraiya was looking nervous. Very, very nervous. He looked at the window, then at his feet. Then he looked at the window again.

After a couple of minutes, Tsunade and Iruka started to look uncomfortable too. But they started looking at the door, then at Jiraiya and then at their feet.

Anko started poking with the knife in the cake. "Jiraiya-sama? I thought it was your turn to give something 'special'."

Jiraiya looked at her, his glance was cold, but then he looked nervous again and avoided the impatiently waiting Naruto's gaze.

"HAHAHAHA! My present is…. Our present is… Well I erm… how shall I put it… I l…"

At that moment a shadow jumped in the window, but Jiraiya sat there. The shadow bumped into the Toad-sage and they both fell on the ground.

"Watch out, brat!" shouted Jiraiya at the shadow. "Why did it take so long?"

On the ground laid a panting Kakashi. He was soaked and looked very, very tired. In his hands he held a small package.

The Copy-nin stood up and shoved the package in Jiraiya's hands.

"Happy Birthday, Naruto!" said Kakashi smiling.

"YOU ARE LATE!" yelled everybody.

"…Heh… You see, Jiraiya lost the most important present and he told me to get it back so…"

"LIAR!" yelled everybody again. Well, no, Jiraiya looked away and said nothing, but nobody noticed that.

Kakashi looked at Jiraiya, "I want to have a little chat after this, Jiraiya_-sama_…"

Naruto looked at his two sensei's. One of them looked cozy and warm; eating a little piece of cake he stole. The other looked cold, wet, tired… not very good.

Kakashi turned to Naruto, and ruffled the blond hair of his student.

"Let's not forget my own present to you, Naruto! Here." And Kakashi gave Naruto a Kunai and Shuriken set.

Naruto looked very happy. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei! But don't be late the next time!"

Kakashi rubbed his head. "…Heh…"

Jiraiya patted Naruto's back. "This present is for you. All of us have worked on it, so it is very special…" and Jiraiya handed Naruto the package.

Naruto looked at it. Behind the mud and… something Naruto didn't want to know what, it was neatly wrapped in nice, orange paper. Slowly he unwrapped his present.

It was a book.

Naruto stared at it.

"Well, open it, you baka! I've worked very hard on my part!" said Sakura.

Slowly Naruto opened the book.

Everybody looked at him, their eyes filled with… well… something like… joy.

Naruto flipped the pages. With every page, there started to fall a tear.

In the book were photo's of Naruto and somebody who was on his birthday.

Hell, there were even pictures of Anko and him, eating dango! She had drawn a cake in it. It wasn't very… cake-ish, but it's the thought that counts.

The pictures of Gai and Lee took almost ten pages, but Naruto really liked it.

Naruto closed the book, looking happier than anybody ever saw him.

"THANK YOU! THANK ALL OF YOU!" he cried.

Iruka walked over to him and hugged him. Slowly the Academy-teacher started singing.

"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you…"

Everybody was singing now. "Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy…"

Gai and Lee were almost screaming and Anko started dancing on the table while she clapped in her hands. Shizune sniffed because the smile from Naruto was so real. Real-real, not real-fake.

Sakura tried to sing at her best, and even Hinata's soft voice sounded loud in the room. Akamaru barked on the rhythm, and believe it or not, Kiba barked too.

The song wasn't the prettiest to listen to (Jiraiya sounded like a frog) but it came from their hearts. Naruto did never hear a song like that for him. He was so happy!

The song stopped.

But somebody was still singing…

"Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to y…" the voice stopped when everybody stared.

The voice was from Sasuke. "Hn. Quit staring idiots, the song is for Naruto, not for you."

Naruto ran to his 'friend' "TEME! YOU ARE HERE TOO!"

"Hn."

Silence fell again.

"Happy birthday, dobe." Said Sasuke, while shaking Naruto's hand.

"Thanks, teme."

Naruto acted cool, but from the inside he was cheering. Sasuke didn't say it, but they were friends! Real best friends!

"ALRIGHT! NOW EVERYBODY IS HERE, WHO'S IN FOR CAKE?" yelled Anko again.

This time everybody cheered. "I want cake!"

And it was a birthday to remember…

After almost everybody had left, Kakashi took Jiraiya outside and started his little 'chat'.

Naruto was not interested and didn't try to listen to their conversation. He flipped through the pages of his little book again, but looked this time longer to the pictures and he read the little texts the people wrote under them.

Under a certain photo of him and Shikamaru (where they were both covered in mud and paint) stood: 'You are really troublesome, Naruto, really troublesome. But I wouldn't want to change it.'

Or under Sakura's picture (she hitted Naruto on his head): 'Thanks for being my stress reliever.'

There were one or two pictures of him and Shino. The text under them was really shocking. 'I would like to become friends, Naruto-kun.'

Gai and Lee's pictures were almost the same (Gai stood in his good guy-pose with Naruto at his side, a page further stood Lee in a good guy-pose with Naruto at his side). Their texts were the same: 'YOU ARE FILLED WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH!"

Naruto got tears in his eyes again when he read Iruka's text under the photo where they were eating Ramen, 'Thank you for being who you are, Naruto.'

Kakashi's text was… short, but powerful: 'Thank you.' The text was placed under a photo where Kakashi was lying in a hospital bed and Naruto smiled at him.

Naruto laughed at that.

Jiraiya's text wasn't much better either. 'Thanks, but don't call me Ero-sennin anymore.'

Naruto looked at every picture and read every text.

Then Jiraiya came in again.

The Toad-sage looked around and saw Naruto sitting with the book in his hands.

"Naruto…"

"Yes, Ero-sennin?"

"I thought I wrote 'never call me Ero-sennin again'! But of course, you don't listen to me, do you?" laughed Jiraiya.

Naruto smiled.

"Ero-sennin?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Thank you for giving me such a birthday party…"

"It was nothing, Naruto, everybody wanted you to have one."

Jiraiya searched in his pockets. "Where is it? It must be somewhere…"

"Is something wrong?" asked Naruto, wanting to know why Jiraiya was looking for something.

"Yes. I made another 'special present' for you myself, but I can't find it anywhere!"

At that moment Kakashi came in.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei! Why are you here?" asked Naruto the Copy-nin.

"Jiraiya-sama. I found this when I found the book. I believe this is yours?" and Kakashi gave

a muddy, but not very wet this time, wrapped thing to Jiraiya.

Kakashi smiled at Naruto. "See ya!" and poofed away.

Jiraiya stared at the muddy thing in his hands. "That stupid brat! He had it all the time!"

Naruto looked at Jiraiya. "Can I have it now?"

"Yeah, of course! Here!"

Naruto unwrapped the present and looked at the thing in his hands.

It was a plushy, nine-tailed fox.

"I made it myself." Said Jiraiya, "Look, it has a nose!"

Naruto smiled sadly. "Thank you."

Jiraiya looked concerned. "Something wrong?"

"It's just… I've never celebrated my birthday before, because the nine-tailed fox inside me.."

"I know. That's why we all decided to celebrate it now!"

"And, the villagers always try to beat me up at my birthday… they try to kill me sometimes."

Jiraiya looked sad. "I know that. Kakashi knows too, you know?"

Naruto didn't believe his ears. "You know? Kakashi-sensei knows? Why don't you two help me then? Why don't you do anything?"

Jiraiya gazed away. "We did try to do something. But the Elders don't allow us to interfere…"

"But what did you try to do? And why do you even listen to those stupid Elders?"

"I listen to them, Kakashi listens to them, because we don't have another choice. You'll understand later…" Jiraiya took a deep breath, "And the reason I lost your present…"

Naruto listened to Jiraiya.

"I lost your present, because the villagers took it from me. I was on my way to your house, when a mob of angry villagers attacked me, tried to kill me and stole your present! I summoned a toad, and almost dropped it on them… but some of them were ninja and they got away before I could get them, or the toad fell on them."

"So, you tried to squish the villagers with a toad?"

"Yep."

"But it didn't work."

"…Yep."

"So, if some of the villagers, were ninja's, I'm lucky to be alive?"

"I feel sorry to say this, but, yes."

Naruto looked very sad, but smiled to Jiraiya's surprise.

"They didn't get me. They didn't get me this time."

Jiraiya's eyes shot open. "This time? Did they get you before?"

Naruto's blue eyes were filled with pain.

"…yes…"

_***Flashback***_

_Naruto ran through the streets._

_A mob of mad villagers chased him and threw stones at him. If it were just stones, Naruto wouldn't care. Everybody threw stones at him, every day. But it was more than just stones. Kunai and Shuriken flew everywhere._

_Naruto ran for his life._

_He ran into a dark alley, but was trapped._

_The villagers came closer._

"_Today is the day you die, Demon." said one of them._

_Naruto screamed._

_***End Flashback* **_

Jiraiya was shocked. "W… What did they do to you?"

"I don't remember. I must have hitted my head before they started beating me. The next morning I wasn't able to move…"

In an impulse, Jiraiya pulled Naruto close.

"Naruto…"

To Naruto's surprise, Jiraiya was crying.

Naruto tried to cheer Jiraiya up. "Oi! Oi! Ero-sennin, but how did you… I mean, Kakashi-sensei, get the present back? He must've told you!"

Jiraiya squeezed Naruto harder.

"Well, I couldn't find the villagers who stole the present, and since Kakashi is an expert at tracking, I asked him to bring the present back…"

"Yes, but what did he do?"

"He found the villagers… but what happened, I don't know."

"Why?"

"He didn't tell!"

"Did he tell you why he wasn't going to tell you about the encounter?"

"Yes…"

"Why?"

"Because if this comes out, the Elders will kill him."

"Why?"

"I told you! I DON'T KNOW!"

"Maybe you can guess what he did… you talked to him about it…"

"I don't even want to know what he did to them!"

"Why?"

"Why do you want to know everything?"

"Just because."

After Naruto said those words, he hugged Jiraiya and the plushy tightly and said, "Thank you for everything, Ero-sennin!"

"You're welcome, kid."

**END**


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